THE Buildbase Bees deservedly came out on top in a close, competitive meeting with title favourites Poole pushing them almost all the way.
The Pirates had the night's outstanding rider in skipper Bjarne Pedersen, who reeled off five straight wins - not for the first time at Brandon - but their Achilles heel was their tail-end, with Polish duo Karol Zabik and Zibi Suchecki failing to trouble the scores between them from nine rides combined.
Bees, by contrast, were much more solid with both Rory Schlein and Olly Allen making good returns from injury, and Stan Burza coming up with another vital contribution at reserve, with three terrific heat wins.
Racing was fast and exciting throughout and it always looked like being a close meeting, with Pedersen signalling his intent by storming away from gate 4 to win the first race in convincing fashion.
However, Bees collected the most welcome of 5-1s in Heat 2, despite the form of Freddie Eriksson going into the meeting, with both Burza and Andreas Messing making good starts - and although Eriksson briefly moved past Messing on the third bend, the Swede was straight back on the inside to re-claim second place.
Davey Watt made a good start to the meeting too, with a win in Heat 3 as Schlein was forced to re-pass Suchecki in the early stages, and Chris Holder then made it three race wins for the Pole heat-leaders, taking Heat 4 as Simon Stead was delayed by Eriksson on the first lap - the resulting 4-2 bringing the Pirates back to within two points.
Race 5 was called back due to movement at the start by Pedersen, which was a blow for the visitors as Zabik had made a good start, but at the second time of asking the Polish rider was trapped on the inside and Schlein and Janniro shared the race behind the Pirates skipper.
The next race was a belter with Harris coming up with his best ride of the season so far - left at the back on the first lap, he rounded Eriksson second time around and then, after two laps of chasing, beautifully switched inside Holder on the back straight as they went into turns three and four for the last time, and then held his line well off the last bend to take a brilliant win.
Then Burza underlined the threat he poses when he makes the start as he got ahead of Watt in Heat 7 and rode a perfect line to block the Australian's every move, Stead also being in close attendance and taking third place in a Bees 4-2 to put them four points up.
Allen had a mechanical scare prior to Heat 8 and emerged on a bike belonging to Harris - but he still made a reasonable start and got around Eriksson off the second bend to lead. Behind them, however, Zabik made a challenge on Messing which could best be described as muddled and ended up bringing both down on the third bend, giving Messing a nasty burn to his lower back. The Bees reserve did come back for the re-run though, which featured virtually a repeat performance with Allen, back on his own machine, rounding Eriksson off turn two and Bees taking a 4-2 as a result.
The six point lead was nearly extended further in Heat 9, another entertaining race with Schlein doing everything to hold off Holder's inside challenge, whilst a slowing Janniro lost third place to Eriksson going into the last lap - but the lead was extended in the next race when Allen shot away from the start and Harris got the better of Watt in a wheel-to-wheel battle which lasted for nearly three laps.
With the visitors ten points down, Pedersen took the black and white helmet in Heat 11 and duly notched six points, although he was headed by Stead until the third bend - but the Pirates only took three points back as Zabik, who had made a good start himself, fell for no apparent reason on the second bend.
However, Poole still had a chance in the meeting and Watt out-trapped Schlein to win Heat 12 with Eriksson third for a Pirates 4-2, a result which was repeated in Heat 13 with Harris attempting to pass Pedersen but in the end having to be more concerned with preventing Holder from coming past for a 5-1.
The fast starting of the Pirates heat-leaders made it crucial that Bees clinched the match in Heat 14 if at all possible - and they did so, albeit not quite in the circumstances expected. Zabik and Eriksson both made good starts and may well have had the line to come around turn two in first and second places - only for Zabik to take his team-mate almost to the fence and hand Janniro and Burza the inside route to take their own 5-1. Janniro made sure there was no way through for the recovering Pirates on the back straight and Coventry's points were safe.
That was just as well, because Poole took a 5-1 back in Heat 15, albeit in another superb speedway race with Schlein first of all doing well to remain on his machine as Harris was sent wide into his path. Then it was Pedersen versus Harris with the Dane riding brilliantly to repel Harris's every move, and as they battled the other two riders got back into contention. Into the last lap Harris was trying to go inside Pedersen, with Watt looking to pass Harris - and on the very last bend as Harris made his final attempt, he ended up losing a place as Watt won the race to the line on the inside.
It mattered not, however, in the big scheme of things - the most important outcome was that the Bees had taken two Elite League points away from the meeting, avoided any further damage at home, and had hopefully given themselves a big confidence boost in the process.
